By Andrew North. Thirty years later, the two sides remain locked in a stand-off, but the Indian army mountaineer who inspired the operation says his country must hang on whatever the cost. [92], On 25 March, two Indian jawans died after they were buried in an avalanche in the Turtuk sector while on patrol. On 1 August 1992, Pakistani helicopters were attacked by an Indian Igla missile and Brig. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. D. Astore. [72] Ignoring protests from Pakistan, India maintains that it does not need anyone's approval to send trekkers to Siachen, in what it says is essentially its own territory. The glacier's melting waters are the main source of the Nubra River in the Indian region of Ladakh, which drains into the Shyok River. This, in turn, reinforced the Pakistani claim on the area, as these expeditions arrived on the glacier with a permit obtained from the Government of Pakistan. [3] They returned in or around 1981, climbed several peaks and walked the length of Siachen. It originates from the SiaKangri in the Karakoram Range and is approximately 72 Km in length. The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about 352516N 770634E / 35.421226N 77.109540E / 35.421226; 77.109540, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. Since September 2007, India has opened up limited mountaineering and trekking expeditions to the area. One of the biggest successes achieved by Pakistan in this period was the seizure of a feature overlooking Bilafond La. [77], In 2011, 24 Indian soldiers died on the Siachen glacier from the climate and accidents. Soldiers sent to Siachen know theyll be serving in a bitter and inhospitable environment. Men of the Ladakh Scouts and Kumaon Regiment occupy Bilafond La on 13 April and Sia La on 17 April 1984 with the help of the Indian Air Force. The Siachen Glacier is located in Northern Ladakh in the eastern Karakoram Range of the Himalayas. "With all the money we have spent in Siachen, we could have provided clean water and electricity to half the country," says the former Indian army officer. Indian Army launched an operation to preempt the seizure of the passes by the Pakistan Army. [78], In 2013, 10 Indian soldiers died due to weather conditions. In the meantime, Col Kumar says India should be consolidating its position on the Siachen, by allowing more foreign mountaineers to climb there. [45], In his memoirs, former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf states that Pakistan lost almost 986 square miles (2,550km2) of territory that it claimed. The average winter snowfall is more than 1000cm (35ft) and temperatures can dip to 50C (58F). Siachen Glacier is located in which district? A Pakistani counter-attack led by a Brig Gen Pervez Musharraf a few years later was one of several that failed to dislodge the Indians. In 1984, India launched Operation Meghdoot, a military operation that gave India control over all of the Siachen Glacier, including its tributaries. The Saltoro Ridge originates in the north from the Sia Kangri peak on the China border in the Karakoram range. Lower elevations receive about 75 to 150 cm (30 to 60 inches) of snow per year, while higher elevations receive more than 1,000 cm (about 400 inches) of snow. According to a study conducted by the Pakistani Meteorological Department, the glacier size has reduced by about 35% and currently decreasing by 110 meters annually. "A struggle of two bald men over a comb" is the verdict of Stephen Cohen, a US specialist on South Asia, dismissing the Siachen as "not militarily important". Virtually hidden from public view, the world's highest conflict is moving into its fourth decade. Mountaineers who visited the area while on climbing expeditions witnessed large amount of garbage, empty ammunition shells, parachutes etc. Both India and Pakistan claim sovereignty over the entire Siachen region. By the 2003 ceasefire, around 2,000 men had died, most of them from frostbite, avalanches, and other effects of the extreme environment, rather than from actual fighting. This feature was named "Qaid Post" and for three years it dominated Indian positions on the glacier. (See Annex 26 to the third Interim Report of the United Nation Commission for India and Pakistan)[22][23]. More than 2000 people have died in this inhospitable terrain, mostly due to weather extremes and the natural hazards of mountain warfare. However, India insists that Pakistan must recognize the current line of control for it to withdraw from the area. In the book Asymmetric Warfare in South Asia: The Causes and Consequences of the Kargil Conflict, Khan, Lavoy and Clary wrote: The Pakistan army sees India's 1984 occupation of the Siachen Glacier as a major scar, outweighed only by Dhaka's fall in 1971. It lies on the northeast of the northernmost point of the Line of Control between Pakistan and India in the disputed Kashmir region. The 1970s and 1980s US and Pakistani maps contained a dotted line on the LoC from NJ9842 to Karakoram Pass. This fortified sand barrier dividing a contested territory is the longest minefield in the world. Thirty years later, the two sides remain locked in a stand . However, India held that the dotted line violated the Shimla agreement and may have been a cartographic error. Following the UN-mediated ceasefire in 1949, the line between India and Pakistan was demarcated up to point NJ9842 at the foot of the Siachen Glacier. Unusually for the normally secretive Indian Army, the news and photographs of this expedition were published in The Illustrated Weekly of India, a widely circulated popular magazine. He claimed that more than 1,100 Indian soldiers have died defending the Siachen glacier. Although India administers the entire glacier region as part of the Union Territory of Ladakh, Pakistan also claims the region and controls the area to the glaciers west. Pak Study Mcqs. In the haste to pull together operational resources, Pakistan planners made a tactical error, according to a now-retired Pakistani army colonel. [27] According to official records, only 220 Indian soldiers have been killed by enemy bullets since 1984 in Siachen area. Title of UN document number S/1430/Add.2 which illustrates the CFL as per the Karachi Agreement reads: Map of the State of Jammu and Kashmir showing the Cease Fire Line as Agreed Upon in the Karachi Agreement, Ratified by the Governments of India and Pakistan on 29 and 30 July Respectively. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. It is predicted that the glaciers of the Siachen region will be reduced to about one-fifth of their 2011 size by 2035. The line between the two nations was demarcated up to point NJ9842 at the foot of the Siachen Glacier, in the extreme north of both countries. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions 2023 worldatlas.com. The glacier's region is the highest battleground on Earth,[69] where Pakistan and India have fought intermittently since April 1984. The struggle between India and Pakistan over the Siachen glacier has even spawned a new term: "oropolitics", or mountaineering with a political goal. [58] When, in June 1987, the Indian Army captured the 21,153 foot high "Quaid Post" and renamed it to "Bana Top", in honour of Naib Subedar Bana Singh, Bhutto once again publicly taunted the Pakistani generals, telling them to wear bangles if they cannot fight on the Siachen. B. Skardu. Pakistan went ahead and launched Operation Ababeel in April 1984, with the intention of taking the Saltoro Ridge. Mixed Emotions: Mountaineering Writings, p. 147. [80][81] In the aftermath of the disaster, Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani suggested India and Pakistan should withdraw all troops from the contested glacier. One of the key Indian installations on the Siachen today is named Kumar Base after him. The glacier is claimed by both India and Pakistan, with a large deployment by both sides. "We came to know the Pakistanis were buying lots of specialist mountain clothing in London," grins Col Kumar. Been Here? "[57] Stephen P. Cohen compared the conflict to "a struggle between two bald men over a comb. Kent L. Biringer, a researcher at Cooperative Monitoring Center of Sandia Labs suggested setting up Siachen Science Center, a high-altitude research centre where scientists and researchers from both the countries can carry out research activities[75] related to glaciology, geology, atmospheric sciences and other related fields. The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan At 76 km (47 mi) long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas. [40][41], March May 1989: In March 1989 Operation Ibex by the Indian Army attempted to seize the Pakistani post overlooking the Chumik Glacier. Read about our approach to external linking. [58] One of the reasons theorized for the recent glacial retreat is chemical blasting, to construct camps and posts. Glaciers can merge together like rivers, and that is the case here. The 1949 Karachi agreement only carefully delineated the line of separation to point NJ9842, after which, the agreement states, the line of separation would continue "thence north to the glaciers". A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up. The Siachen conflict, sometimes referred to as the Siachen Glacier conflict or the Siachen War, was a military conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed 1,000-square-mile (2,600km2)[12] Siachen Glacier region in Kashmir. "[This quote needs a citation], The line between where Indian and Pakistani troops are presently holding onto their respective posts is being increasingly referred to as the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL).[53][54]. Read about our approach to external linking. [27][pageneeded] These were early moves in this particular game of oropolitics. The post was renamed Bana Post in his honour. The problems of reinforcing or evacuating the high-altitude ridgeline have led to India's development of the Dhruv Mk III helicopter, powered by the Shakti engine, which was flight-tested to lift and land personnel and stores from the Sonam post, the highest permanently manned post in the world. It lies in the heavily glaciated Himalayan region known as the Third Pole, because mountain glaciers in this region contain more fresh water than is found anywhere else on Earth except for the polar ice caps. The vast majority of the estimated 2,700 Indian and Pakistani troop deaths have not been due to combat but avalanches, exposure and altitude sickness caused by the thin, oxygen-depleted air. Piedmont glaciers are those that form at the base of mountain ranges. It also enables India to monitor the Gilgit and Baltistan regions of Pakistan. The Shyok in turn joins the 3000 kilometre-long Indus River which flows through Pakistan. In 1977, an Indian colonel named Narendra Kumar, offended by international expeditions venturing onto the glacier from the Pakistani side, persuaded his superiors to allow him to lead a 70-man team of climbers and porters to the glacier. Later its sequel, Battlefield Siachen, was released in January 2013. [78], Sandia National Laboratories organised conferences where military experts and environmentalists from both India and Pakistan and also from other countries were invited to present joint papers. Answer at BYJU'S IAS IAS Questions IAS Geography Questions In Which State Is The Siachen Glacier Located In which state is the Siachen glacier located? The glacier covers 76 km from its head at Indira Col on the China-India border to its terminus, with its altitude falling from 5,753m to 3,620m above sea level. Minimum winter temperatures range from 20 to 40 C (4 to 40 F). Siachen glacier is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayan mountains. The heavy military presence is a major threat because of the glacier melting and pollution. [62] About 1,000 kilograms (1.1 short tons) of waste is produced and dumped in glacial crevasses daily by Indian forces. On 13 April 1984, Indian troops snatched control of the Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, narrowly beating Pakistan. [63], According to some estimates, 97% of the casualties in Siachen have been due to weather and altitude, rather than actual fighting. [79], In the early morning of 7 April 2012, an avalanche hit a Pakistani military headquarters in the Gayari Sector, burying 129 soldiers of the 6th Northern Light Infantry battalion and 11 civilian contractors. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. That the Indians dominate the area from the Saltoro Ridge and Pakistani troops are nowhere near the Siachen Glacier is a fact never mentioned in public. The Siachen Glacier and adjoining regions receive most of their precipitation from low-pressure systems called western disturbances. Since 1984, Indian and Pakistani forces have been occupying posts on or near the Siachen Glacier, a 47-mile-long glacier in the Himalayas. P. C. Katoch, Col. Konsam Himalaya Singh seized control of pt 5770 (Naveed Top/Cheema Top/Bilal Top) in the southern edge of the Saltoro defense line from Pakistan troops. The cost of presence on glacier is heavy for both countries but it account for a larger portion of Pakistan's economy. On 25 June 1987 Indian Army under the leadership of Brig. "Chen" refers to any object found in abundance. In 1949, a Cease-Fire Line Agreement (CFL) was signed and ratified by India, Pakistan and the UN Military Observer Group that delineated the entire CFL. As with so many long-running conflicts, it began with an undefined border. The glacier system covers an area of approximately 700 sq. Both India and Pakistan have wished to disengage from the costly military outposts. But thanks to the previously obtained intelligence, India launched Operation Meghdoot just 48 hours before the Pakistani assault. [16], The Siachen Glacier is the highest battleground on earth,[17][18] where India and Pakistan have fought intermittently since 13 April 1984. [73] In addition, the Indian Army's Army Mountaineering Institute (AMI) functions out of the region. The Chhota Shigri Glacier is a small glacier located in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh state in India. But in the decades following the Karachi Agreement, both India and Pakistan claimed sovereignty over the Siachen area. Siachen Glacier. Teram Kangri I (7,465m or 24,491ft) and Teram Kangri II (7,406m or 24,298ft) were climbed in 1975 by a Japanese expedition led by H. Katayama, which approached through Pakistan via the Bilafond La. The documentary "Expedition to the longest glacier" was shown on the 3rd channel of WDR (German TV) in 1979. This led to a loss of momentum on the Pakistani side and the assault stalled. It has retreated significantly in the last 30 years, partly as a result of waste dumping by both sides. The operation was unsuccessful at dislodging Pakistani troops from their positions. According to the Indian authorities, the country lost 869 soldiers in the Siachen Glacier between 1984 and now due to harsh weather conditions. [42] India has categorically stated that India will not pull its army from Siachen until the 110-km long AGPL is first authenticated, delineated and then demarcated.[43][44].